[dropcap1]Q. [/dropcap1] How do I keep my fried foods crisp? I made some crab-stuffed shrimp, rolled them in egg wash and seasoned flour, then deep-fried them. They were perfect when they came out. But to keep them warm until they were all cooked I put them on a rack over a cookie sheet in a 350 oven. They lost the crisp. What should I have done? [dropcap1]A. [/dropcap1]The problem is with your oven temperature. At 350 degrees, the middle parts of the shriffed shrimp keep cooking and outgassing moisture, which makes the crust soggy. If the oven is at around 200, the evaporative drying effects become dominant, since the temperature inside the stuffed shrimp is now below the boiling point of water and stops steaming. If your oven has a convection feature, turn it on. That will enhance the drying even more. One more thing: you you know a fried dish will sit around even a few minutes before it's eaten, do all you can to keep the insides of it and any stuffings dry.
